Nearly three years ago, on the eve of the election, I wrote my debut Spectator Australia article calling for a pandemic reckoning. In the lead-up to the 2022 election, Covid seemed to miraculously vanish from news headlines for weeks, as politicians focused on election strategies and promises – discussing everything but the pandemic. In one sense, this was a relief. Yet a gnawing feeling remained. Why? I was afraid politicians would ignore the catastrophic consequences of their decisions and simply sweep the entire mess under the carpet. I wasn’t wrong. My concerns were confirmed during the pre-election debate when Covid wasn’t mentioned at all. My article at the time called out the elephant in the room and demanded accountability for the fallout of pandemic policies. Here we are, three years later and poised to enter yet another election, and the critical questions I posed – questions echoed by countless Australians – remain unanswered:

• Why was there such a drastic deviation from pre-established pandemic plans?
• What was the real cost of lockdowns on families, businesses, healthcare, the economy, and society?
• Why were mandates enforced when medical groups cautioned against them, and research indicated they would increase vaccine hesitancy – something we’re now seeing?
• Why does the mRNA Covid vaccine rollout continue despite safety signals that have seen other drugs and vaccines halted?

Our political leaders and bureaucrats have little appetite for acknowledging that the economic, social, and health crises Australians are now experiencing stem largely from decisions made during those years. And no one wants to talk about it. This reluctance isn’t exclusive to Australia. At the recent ARC conference in London, the pandemic and its long-term consequences were barely mentioned. When referenced, they were glossed over with vague statements explaining ‘blips’ in data. On the final day, however, Dr Scott Atlas, former Covid adviser to President Trump, broke the silence:

‘The pandemic response was the most unethical, the most tragic breakdown of leadership in our lifetime. And oddly, it remains the elephant in the room. In many cases, people don’t want to talk about it.’

Internally, I cheered. The Covid era wasn’t just a pandemic; it was a moment of reckoning. It revealed the capture and failure of institutions, government agencies, and global leadership. As Atlas put it:

‘The virus didn’t cause the lockdowns. Human beings decided to impose them. And they failed to stop deaths or transmission.’

The pain Australians now feel is a direct result of these policy failures:

• What happens when you pay millions to Australians to ‘stay home, save lives’ while crushing small businesses with lockdowns and border closures? Inflation skyrockets.
• What happens when you shut down regular health services to ‘protect the system’? Chronic diseases worsen, and a backlog of undiagnosed conditions emerges.
• What happens when you close schools and universities? A learning deficit that may never be fully recovered.
• What happens when you separate people from loved ones at life’s most critical moments – births, deaths, and marriages? A national trauma that lingers beneath the surface.
• What happens when you mandate an experimental injection, forcing people to choose between their jobs and bodily autonomy? A workforce disruption and growing public distrust in government and health authorities.
• What happens when you silence open scientific debate? Censorship, gaslighting, and the erosion of free speech.

The government’s ‘Clayton’s’ Covid response inquiry – the one you have when you don’t want an inquiry – has been predictably inadequate. The report is forward-focused, addressing what to do ‘next time’ rather than how to repair the ongoing damage. It did, however, make one stunning admission: Australia’s Covid response caused a significant erosion of trust. Well, blow me down with a feather. This breach of trust is the biggest pandemic hangover Australia faces. It stems from heavy-handed government policies, censorship, a lack of transparency, and, dare I say, outright lies – all under the guise of ‘keeping people safe’. Five years after the pandemic began, Australians are still suffering while being told to ‘move on’. But I ask:

• How do the mandated move on?
• How do the vaccine-injured move on?
• How do the bereaved move on?
• How do the traumatised move on?

Pretending it never happened won’t make it go away. The only way forward is through open recognition of the errors, accountability at all levels, and real reform of our institutions and systems. Australia’s pandemic response was not a success. It was an epic failure. Look at Sweden. Look at our excess death rate. Look at the plummeting trust in public health. Look at the climbing chronic disease, cancer and autoimmune disease rates. The numbers tell the story. Beyond the statistics, it’s even worse. As Atlas warns, ‘We saw a failure of society’s moral and ethical compass so pervasive that we have lost trust in most institutions and leaders – trust that is essential to the function of any free and diverse society.’ I agree. We need courageous leaders willing to set the record straight, acknowledge the truth, and demand accountability. For that, we need only look across the Pacific. The new US Administration has nominated as head of the NIH Professor Jay Bhattacharya, Covid lockdown dissident and co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration, who champions open scientific discourse, free speech, and data transparency. If Australia is to overcome this pandemic hangover, we must follow their lead or risk being left behind in a wasteland of our own making. Dr Julie Sladden has a passion for transparency in healthcare. If you’d like to support her caffeine-inspired writing, you can shout her a coffee here.